5
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I blink blankly, subconsciously, at the white ceiling. A yawn escapes me, and through my fatigued body, I raise my hand to cover my mouth and quickly collapse it back down. I am tired; it is the only thought going through my mind. Partly because I am tired and partly because I want to avoid all thoughts of having a conversation with Aldo about the past and bygones. I groan as I toss to my side on the bed, annoyed at the self-inflicted reminder. I start to roam my eyes all over the room in an attempt to distract myself from damaging thoughts. But when my eyes lock on the clock that is signalling the nearness of three o'clock, all attempts are forgotten as I jump to my feet and trot towards the bathroom.
Aldo most definitely hates me now, or he thinks I am avoiding the conversation. And he would be correct to think that, but I would rather get kicked on the ass by a donkey than admit it. I grab the hem of my PJ top and slide it off. Then I roll down the bottoms from my legs, and as I get inside the bathroom, I strip out of my underwear and proceed to have the quickest morning routine in my history.
The room was prepared with all the essentials by the maids last night, so everything I need is accessible, including a change of clothes. When I opened the huge wardrobe in the morning, a hint of disappointment passed through my chest when I found only two outfits hanging inside. Thanks to my love of clothes, however, soon after, a smile decorates my cheeks whole as I read the note that Aldo placed on the empty shelves: "Don't worry, little Clar, tomorrow when you wake up, I will take you shopping so you can fill this wardrobe with the clothes of your choice. P.S. I haven't forgotten your intense love for clothes. P.S.S. I have a lot of money, don't worry, even your shopping-obsessed tendencies can't make me go bankrupt ;)"
I put on the nicest of the two outfits I was prepared, nude leggings paired with a faint grey hoodie that has 'that bee' written on the left side of the hoodie in white cursive. This has Aldo written all over it; the quote is most likely what caught his eye and made him get it for me. Looking down at it, I surprisingly like it. I guess I'm going to keep this hoodie. I brush my brown curls out and style my hair up in a ponytail. With a glance at the clock that now points out that the time is fifteen minutes past three, I head out.
Closing the door behind me, I round the corner to get to Aldo's room. Once I am in front of his door, I knock twice and hold my hands behind my back as I wait for him to open the door. In a few seconds, the door creaks open, and Aldo's stern face immediately softens when his eyes find me standing there. "Hey, Clar, do you know what time it is?" He pushes the door so it completely opens, sidestepping as a stupid grin pushes his cheeks upwards, so I can get inside. "I think it's around nine in the morning, why do you ask?" I lie through my teeth as I step inside his room and flip him off in the process.
He giggles quietly, not entertaining our little skit any longer, presumably because of the two serious-looking men sitting on the brown leather sofa. There are a bunch of papers scattered on the table, a new one because Aldo broke the first one yesterday, and two guns, each belonging to a man. A lust-filled look is displayed on their faces when they see me, but Aldo instantly scares it off them with a serious warning. "This is my daughter; watch yourselves before I rip those filthy eyeballs from their sockets."
The men snap their heads back to the papers in front of them, each muttering a careful apology to both me and Aldo. But it doesn't reduce Aldo's anger; instead, he continues the meeting with the most obvious deathly threats, delivered with an equally deathly face. When the meeting is urgently ended, due to Aldo's incapability to stomach them any longer than he already has, the men rise to their feet at unmatched speed, and I swear I can almost hear their happy thoughts as they rush to the door and politely excuse themselves as they exit the room.
During the immensely entertaining-to-watch meeting, I prop myself in the middle of Aldo's white bed to have a good view of the real-time comedy show. Now, Aldo angrily crumbles the documents in between his hands, muttering something about killing them, which makes me laugh. He shoots me a look. "I'm glad you find it funny because I actually might kill them, dirty old fuckers." I get myself off the bed and walk towards him. "They're not that old." He shoots me another deadly, but threat-less look, making me giggle. I might give this man high blood pressure with my antics. His scowl comically turns into a soft-edged smile. "Look at you being a clown first thing in the afternoon."
I cross my legs, one over the other, as I sass back. "I guess it's true what they say, sleeping makes you funnier." He gives me a mischievous look as he reaches for the glass of water. "Oh yeah? Who says that?" I roll my eyes and chuckle. "Literally everyone says that. It's a very well-known figure of speech. You would know that if you were linked in the society." He laughs audibly, his head tipping backward. We continue to joke around for a while before Aldo's face becomes more serious, causing the room's atmosphere to wholly shift with him.
"You know," he says, which causes me to fix my posture, positioning my palms under my thighs. I nod my head in acknowledgment, and he continues. "I wanted to talk with you because I wanted to apologize for suddenly cutting ties." I smile softly and open my mouth to assure him that his intentions are appreciated, but he interrupts. "I know. You don't blame me. You said that yesterday. And that's what I want to talk about. Thank you," he places his cup down and looks at me through glassy, sincere eyes, "for still trusting me."
At genuine vulnerable moments like these, my mind completely blanks out, and the result is complete awkwardness. "I don't...um..." I begin and immediately fail to form words, so I decide to be honest rather than messy. "I don't know what to say back." He chuckles, lightly tapping his thighs as he stands up, middle-aged men's actions, I thought, but he doesn't need to hear that, not now at least. "I know, you were always an awkward kid," he heads toward the door, but I'm immensely offended. It is true, I'm awkward, but he didn't have to say it out loud. I stare at him in disbelief as he picks up his keys and turns to me. He looks confused at my expression. "What's that look for?" I decide to ignore his question and ask my own. "Why are you taking your keys? Are we going shopping?" I spring up from the chair, my expression completely changed, and immersed with joy.
Aldo giggles. "Yeah, come on." He swings the door open, and within seconds, I'm out of that room, already thinking about the clothes that I'm going to buy.
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Rolling my bottom lip under my teeth, my chest fills with pride as I stare at my wardrobe. After our five-hour shopping trip, which caused Aldo to go back and sleep in his car while his men followed me for protection, we came back home, and I immediately got to work. I unpacked all the clothes that I had brought and hung them inside the closet, organizing them according to a colour code. With my palms on my hips, Aldo waltzes into the room and looks at my wardrobe. "This looks like a rainbow vomit."
I put my hand up in his direction but don't face him. "Not right now, Satan. Not right now." I rotate my palm and give him the middle finger. "This is my proudest moment, and I will be damned if I allow you to ruin it for me." He lets out a low whistle. "This is your proudest -" I face him, smiling with ill intentions, and interrupt him. "Continue that sentence, and I will put you six feet under. Do you want to try me?" He smiles and raises his hands, gesturing surrender. "Fine, I will drop it. So, pick an outfit," he pivots his head to look at my newly purchased clothes, "out of the three thousand clothes that I bought because I want to take you out for a fancy dinner."
I place my hands on top of my heart. "Aw, look at you being the doting father. If I knew that this was how you would act when you feel guilty, I would have guilt-tripped you way earlier." I drop my hands to my side. "Also, I didn't get three thousand outfits, I got two thousand." He looks at me and cocks a brow. "And the difference is?" I scoff and fold my arms on my chest. "Did you fail math or something? The difference is a thousand." We stare at each other for another beat, then he taps his forehead. "Duh, silly me. How could I not-" his stupid comment was interrupted by a butler knocking on my door. "Signor Aldo, you only have an hour left until your reservation."
Aldo makes an o shape with his lips before replying, "Okay, thank you, Renzo."
"Any time, signor."
After Renzo's reminder, I reach for my new clothes and instantly pick out the dress I want to wear. I grab the dress I had in mind off its hanger-a deep orange bodycon with a cowl neck, maxi dress. The material has a soft shimmer to it, elevating the elegance of the dress, making it the most suitable for the night. "It's a fancy restaurant, right?" I turn to him, confident that he will answer as expected. "Of course, there's no way I'm taking my daughter to a restaurant that's less than fancy."
I roll the dress carefully on my forearm and pull Aldo in for a side hug, but my flushed face meets his chest when this six-foot-two monster grabs my shoulder. "Thank you, Dad." Warmth fills me when he admits, "So all I needed to do was get you clothes to have you call me Dad again, huh?"
"More or less." I chuckle.
"But seriously," he soothes my arm up and down, "I promise I'm not doing this out of guilt." He pulls me back so that we are looking at each other. "I'm doing this because I want to do it for you. I want to act like a proper dad towards you, okay?"
I gulp the lump of emotions gripping at my throat, because ew, I'm not about to cry.
"Okay." It comes out choked, but I manage not to cry. That's a good enough win.
He smiles and kisses the top of my head. He steps back, stuffing one of his hands inside his pocket. "Alright then." He raises his right hand to look at his Rolex watch. "You have about... forty-five minutes to get ready because it will take us twenty minutes to get to the restaurant, but I can make it ten minutes if we speed." He winks. I roll my eyes as I turn and quickly run to the shower. I don't want to rush this one like I did this morning. "Good thing you're rushing. That's what I like to see." I flip him off and shut the bathroom door behind me. Once I'm inside, I yell to him, "You too, get out of here and shut the door behind you." He doesn't respond, but as I step into the shower, I hear the door shut.
I keep the time in mind as I shower, but I also make sure not to rush. Before putting on the dress, I moisturize and put on my new favourite, Auora Ruby Kiss body mist, because it smells divine. When the beautician gave me a sample earlier as we passed a perfume shop, I knew I had to get it ASAP. Amongst the clothes, Aldo made sure I went and personally picked out anything else that I needed or wanted. So, I brought makeup, shoes, electronics, and basically anything that I saw and liked.
I take out my new iPhone and look up a curly hair tutorial. I settle for this cute half-up, half-down style, which surprises me when I manage it after two tries. As a final touch, I put on a gold set, a necklace and earrings, one of the things Dad brought for me earlier. Then I paired them with uniquely designed golden rings for my fingers and bracelets on both my wrists.
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I lace up the beautifuly made gold toe point stilettos that I picked for tonight to finish getting ready. I look at the clock and smile, thinking, "Perfect," when I see that I finished right on the forty-five-minute mark that Dad gave me. I walk to the mirror to appreciate my choices for tonight, and as I stare at my reflection, I'm the happiest I have been in a while when I see my dress gracefully hugging my curves.
Dad knocks on the door. "Are you ready, kid?" I spin around. "Yeah," I respond and I speed towards the door.
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ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴀᴇsᴛʜᴇᴛɪᴄs:
So what do you guys think?
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